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China says its rocket debris unlikely to cause any harm
Most debris from a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend will be burned up on reentry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday.
The U.S. military said on Wednesday what it called an uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by U.S. Space Command.
The Long March 5B rocket blasted off from China‘s Hainan island on April 29, carrying the unmanned Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters on a permanent Chinese space station.
The location of the rocket’s descent into Earth’s atmosphere as it falls back from space “cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry”, which is projected to occur around May 8, U.S. Space Command said.
Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters this week there was a chance that pieces of the rocket could come down over land such as in May 2020, when pieces from another Chinese Long March 5B rocket rained down on the Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings.
He said potentially dangerous debris would likely escape incineration after streaking through the atmosphere at hypersonic speed but in all likelihood would fall into the sea, given that 70% of the world is covered by ocean.
Speaking in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China was closely following the rocket’s reentry into the atmosphere, and that most of its components would be burned up upon re-entry.
“The probability of this process causing harm on the ground is extremely low,” he said.
Debris from the Long March 5B is likely to fall in international waters, China‘s Global Times reported on Wednesday.
Based on its current orbit, the debris trail is likely to fall somewhere as far north as New York, Madrid or Beijing and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand, or anywhere in between, McDowell said.
The Tianhe launch was the first of 11 missions needed to complete the Chinese space station.
Former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, says Washington is largely satisfied with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) efforts against terrorism, though progress in broader relations remains hindered by the issue of prisoners.
In an interview with NDTV, Khalilzad said the United States views the detention of at least two American citizens in Afghanistan as the primary obstacle to improving ties.
Khalilzad highlighted what he described as a “significant degree of satisfaction” in the U.S. assessment of the IEA’s counterterrorism commitments under the Doha Agreement. He said the IEA continue to fight Daesh, a group they have long considered an enemy. Many Daesh militants, he added, have been pushed out of Afghanistan and are now in Pakistan.
At the same time, Khalilzad said concerns remain regarding human rights and the political role of non-IEA Afghans.
The Ministry of National Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has rejected recent accusations made by Pakistani officials following a deadly attack at a mosque in Islamabad, calling them “irresponsible” and “baseless.”
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif wrote on X that preliminary findings suggest the suicide bomber had been on the move to and from Afghanistan.
According to the Afghan Defense Ministry, Pakistan’s defense minister “immediately and irresponsibly” blamed Afghanistan for the attack without conducting proper investigations. Afghan authorities noted that this pattern has been repeated in the past, particularly regarding incidents in Balochistan and other security events inside Pakistan.
The ministry stated that linking such attacks to Afghanistan “has no logic or foundation,” adding that these statements cannot hide Pakistan’s internal security failures or help solve the underlying problems.
“If they were truly able to identify the perpetrators immediately after the incident, then why were they unable to prevent it beforehand?” the statement asked.
The Afghan government emphasized its commitment to Islamic values, stating it does not consider harm against innocent civilians permissible under any circumstances and does not support those involved in illegal acts.
The statement urged Pakistani security officials to take responsibility for their internal security shortcomings, review their policies, and adopt a more constructive and cooperative approach toward both their own citizens and neighboring countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has strongly condemned Friday’s suicide bombing at a Shi’ite mosque in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, which left 31 people dead and 179 others wounded.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement that the Islamic Emirate considers such attacks—which violate the sanctity of religious rites and mosques and target worshippers and civilians—to be contrary to Islamic and human values.
The Islamic Emirate also expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.
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